Angels beat Mariners, reach brink of A.L. West title

ANAHEIM -- Vladimir Guerrero's ailing right triceps has kept him
from the field the last 10 days. It hasn't kept him from lifting
the Angels up onto his shoulders.

The longest of Guerrero's three hits Thursday night sailed deep
over the wall in center for his 26th homer in a 9-5 win over
Seattle that inched the Angels closer to the only number that
mattered at the end of the night: One -- as in the number of
victories that stand between the Angels and their third American
League West crown in the last four years.

"It's a good win," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose
700th career victory clinched at least a tie with the Mariners in
the division. "It gets us closer to our goal."

Guerrero's ailing right triceps has been one of the many speed
bumps on the road toward that goal. He hasn't played the field
since inflammation forced him to miss four games earlier this month
and a return to right field before the playoffs begins isn't a
certainty with throwing drills a still a day or two away.

His bat, of course, is a certainty regardless of where Guerrero
is penciled in.

Which is why the Angels rushed so quickly to his defense when
the Mariners' Jorge Campillo blew a fastball over Guerrero's head
in the sixth inning.

Two innings earlier, after Jered Weaver offering plunked Kenji
Johjima in the fourth, Guerrero answered one inside fastball that
knocked him off his feet with his home run to center -- which he
stood and admired.

"It was related to that; I'm not going to lie about it,"
Guerrero said through a translator. "As a hitter, the way you want
to answer is to take a good swing. The ball went out of the
ballpark. I'm glad it went out of the ballpark."

The next time Campillo sent the Angels' designated hitter to the
deck with a first-pitch heater behind his head. Guerrero quickly
rose, pointed to Campillo and took a couple of steps toward the
mound. His teammates, though, beat him there, piling out of the
dugout and out of the bullpen in left field. Pushing and shoving,
both teams converged near the mound, with right-hander John Lackey
among the rowdiest of Guerrero's supporters.

"That's our superstar; he's our guy that's going to carry us
into the playoffs and in the playoffs," Angels starter Jered Weaver
said of Guerrero, who has four homers and 12 RBIs over his last 10
games. "For them to go after him once and then twice, I thought it
was completely unnecessary. I don't know if they were just
frustrated because we were up five runs and their season's
slipping. There's no reason for it."

Mariners manager John McLaren and Campillo -- who allowed four
runs in 2 2/3 innings -- were ejected and the Angels cruised to
their fourth straight win over Seattle, which trails the Angels by
9 1/2 games in the AL West and the Yankees by seven games in the
wild-card race.